


Weave Ourselves in a Circle

by Akabit



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Romance, F/M, First he makes them worse, Gen, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Minor Character Death, Stiles Fixes Things, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-10
Updated: 2014-05-09
Packaged: 2018-01-18 22:29:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1445188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akabit/pseuds/Akabit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles and Lydia try to cast a time loop spell but wind up with something altogether more complicated. Every action has consequences.</p><p>or</p><p>Stiles hops through time to fix everything. Sort of good Peter is sort of helpful...sometimes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Time travel for dummies

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my new story. I have the whole thing outlined and I am writing several chapters ahead. Thank you to Kamara Black for beta reading. All mistakes are mine. 
> 
> Anika

_Stiles didn’t understand his childhood until he was eighteen years old.  The best way he could describe it was that sometimes his brain would switch into a different mode.  His thoughts became older and scarier. They seemed to reference memories and experiences he couldn’t touch. When his thoughts returned to normal, he found he didn’t remember any explanation for his odd actions.  Stiles thought that most people would be scared by this type of occurrence, but he quickly learned to trust it.  Everything was always better after the weird grownup thoughts went away. Perhaps there was some benevolent hand guiding his life or maybe it was just one of those things that came with being a spark._

_He never told anyone until Peter pulled him aside after his high school graduation_

********************

Stiles, Danny, and Lydia were almost back to the Stilinski house when Lydia started screaming. Stiles hastily pulled over to the shoulder of the road and clasped Lydia's hands.

"Who is it? " Stiles asked hoping against hope it wasn’t anyone he loved.

"Isaac, Isaac. It's Isaac and it isn't over. I can still hear them laughing." Lydia put her hands over her ears in a vain attempt to block the sounds only she could hear.

Stiles hugged her until she calmed down and then gently guided her out of the car and into the back seat so Danny could try to comfort her.

The last couple of months had been hellish. There had been barely two weeks of peace after defeating the nogitsune before everything fell apart again.

Kate Argent came back as a blue were-something and teamed up with her father to try to kill all the werewolves in Beacon Hills and their allies. Two months into the fight, the pack still had no clue why the less ethical members of the Argent family were targeting them. Stiles was beginning to suspect the answer was an insane combination of revenge and blind hypocritical hatred.

Unfortunately, the Hunters were succeeding. Chris Argent died the first week while saving Derek. Malia was killed three days later. After that, the pack managed to regroup and kind of hold them off. But they steadily lost ground and now Isaac was dead. The pack just needed more time. It was hard to fight a battle they fundamentally did not understand. Stiles hadn't even known their enemies had Isaac until Lydia started screaming.

"I think we need to try the spell. " Stiles announced.

Danny made a noncommittal sound. He had reluctantly joined the fight after the Argents made it clear that anyone who had ever been closely associated with a werewolf was on their hit list, but the human was still a bit uncomfortable with the supernatural.  "Are you sure it will work? " Danny asked.

"Nope," replied Stiles. "But I am sure that if we do nothing Isaac will stay dead." He pulled back into traffic and tried to remember if he had everything he needed for the ritual at his house. He didn’t want to stop at Deaton's unless he absolutely had to. The vet hadn’t exactly given Stiles permission to borrow the book that contained the time travel spell. He had given Stiles a book that vaguely mentioned it in the appendix. From Deaton, surely this was a broad hint to steal the more detailed text as soon as his back was turned.

The spell was written in old Czech. Stiles and Lydia had done their best to translate it based on Stiles knowledge of Polish and Google translate. They are fairly certain they understood how to cast it, but the brief description of the expected results were cryptic at best.

"If we don't come up with a better plan by the time we get back to my house, I am going to try to cast it. " Stiles said.

"Alright ," Lydia agreed. "If we are going to try the spell, we should do it so as soon as possible so that the travelers have enough time to fix things." Their best guess was that the spell created a twenty-four hour time loop for two people inside their magic circle. If the situation wasn’t so dire, Stiles would be really enthusiastic about getting to experience "Groundhog day".

"Fine, but leave me out of the circle, " Danny said reluctantly. Stiles readily accepted his answer. Lydia seemed like a more useful time traveling companion anyway.

When they arrived at the house, the three quickly went up to Stiles room.  Danny printed the words of the ritual in large type so Stiles and Lydia didn’t have to memorize their lines.  Stiles gathered all the necessary ingredients while Lydia visited the bathroom to wash her face and finish calming down.

It took less than half an hour get everything to be ready. Stiles chanted his part of the spell as he drew a circle of mountain ash. Lydia drew symbols in willingly donated werewolf blood with a stick that had been hand carved from Nemeton wood. The stick had several symbols representing time as well as 23 notches that evenly divided the stick into twenty-four segments. After she finished her diagram, Lydia chanted her part of the ritual in a confident voice and dropped the stick in a silver bowl of river water.  Stiles lifted the stick and saw the room start to dissolve around him.

Stiles blinked his eyes and opened them in a completely different location than he expected. He wasn’t sitting in his room from the previous evening. Instead Stiles found himself sitting on a masking tape circle on the carpeted floor of a vaguely familiar room. Mrs. Nelson, his kindergarten teacher, was reading a colorful book about wild animals of North America. Stiles looked around. He recognized most of the other children in the classroom.  Stiles appeared to be in the body of his younger self. He shifted about trying to catch the attention of young Lydia. At least they were here together.

“Grzegorz, sit still please,” the teacher reprimanded.  Stiles suppressed a shudder at his given name.  Lydia gave him a placidly superior look and then turned her attention back to Mrs. Nelson. Stiles was confused. Shouldn’t they be trying to figure out what was going on. He doubted looping a day of kindergarten would be very useful in defeating the Argents. He tried to brainstorm possible solutions until storytime was over

“Alright class,” the teacher said drawing his attention back to the lesson.  “Lets go around the circle and everyone can say their favorite animal.”  Most of the other students gave predictable answers like cat, dog, or horse.

When it was his turn, Stiles confidently answered, “Canis Lupus.” He had always disliked Mrs. Nelson for her refusal to use his chosen name and her frequent insistence that he sit still.  Several members in the class snickered except one girl halfway across the circle who looked interested. Stiles didn’t remember her name.  The teacher looked slightly irritated but didn’t challenge his answer.

When it was the girl’s turn she also said, “Canis Lupus”.  This time Mrs. Nelson decided to act.

“Cora, do you know what a Canis Lupus is?” she asked in a saccharine voice.

“It’s a wolf,” the girl responded.  Stiles realized she must be Cora Hale.  After the Hale house fire, his elementary school had an assembly and grief counselors available for students.  Stiles knew that Cora had been in his grade, but he didn’t remember that they had ever been in the same class.

Soon after the last student gave their favorite animal, a bell rang and everyone rushed out to recess.  Stiles tried to make a beeline for Lydia, but Cora stopped him.

“I like that you know Latin for wolf,” she said in an enthusiastic way that probably would have made them friends for life when he was actually in kindergarten.   

“Wolves are awesome,” he responded in his best approximation of his younger self. Lydia was looking over at them with an interested expression so he decided to continue the conversation. “Did you know wolves can run 20-30 miles in a day?”  

Lydia walked over and added. “Wolves live in packs.” Cora nodded in acknowledgement of these facts.

“I have a book about wolves at my house,” Cora said.

“I borrowed a wolf book from the library last month,” Lydia’s slightly superior tone sounded funny out of a young child, but Cora didn’t seem to notice. Stiles wondered if Lydia was trying to communicate in some kind of code.  If so he wasn’t getting it. The two girls looked at him. Apparently it was his turn to add a random wolf fact.

“The alpha eats first.” He stuck his hands in his pockets awkwardly and felt the magic stick from the ritual. He ran his fingers over it and noticed the texture seemed to have changed at one end. He pulled it out of his pocket just as it started to rain.  As the first drop of water hits the stick, he blinked and found himself back in his bedroom listening to Lydia scream.


	2. If at first you don't succeed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles fails at being six and succeeds at arousing suspicion

_Growing up Stiles always trusted his odd episodes because they never steered him wrong. The first one gave him one of his best friends. The next morning, before school, Cora ran up to Stiles and Scott to show Stiles her wolf book. The three of them spent the minutes before the morning bell looking at the colorful pictures and Stiles even managed to sound out a couple of the words.  Cora was very impressed. By the end of the week, the trio was inseparable._

_Stiles second episode changed his life even more profoundly_

********************

Stiles was ushered back into his room by the sound of Lydia's screaming. He put both his hands on her shoulders.

“Calm down, Lydia. It is going to be okay,” Stiles comforted her.  Lydia shook her head, tears running down her cheeks.

“No, Cora. Cora is dead,” Lydia wailed. Stiles was confused.  To his knowledge, Cora was in South America.  Derek had written specifically to warn her not to come back until the Argents were taken care of.

Danny looked perplexed. “Cora has been dead for years,” he said. “I know you guys were friends.” He stopped talking and looked like he was biting back an insensitive question.

“I thought you met her when we were facing the alpha pack,” Stiles questioned.

Danny looked at Stiles like he had lost his mind. “Stiles, Cora was killed in the Hale house fire. Her Uncle Zack helped identify the body.”

“Who?” demanded Stiles even more confused.  He had never heard of Derek and Cora having another living uncle. He felt unsettled by the entire conversation.  Clearly, they were missing something.

Looking around, he realized another thing that was setting him on edge. His room was ever so slightly off.  The posters and printouts on the wall were arranged in a different pattern and some of them were unfamiliar. He didn't recognize a couple of the pieces of clothing on the floor or the books on the shelf. Yet, they all looked like things he would have chosen. It was completely plausible that this was his room except for the fact that it wasn't.

“Danny,” Lydia asked quietly. “What do you think we are doing here?” she was visibly trying to get herself back in control and mostly succeeding.

“You and Stiles tried to cast a time loop spell because the Argents killed Boyd,” Danny said with the exasperated air of someone explaining the obvious. “But I don’t think it worked.  All it seems to have done is mess with your memories.” Stiles started to feel better.  

“Nope, it totally worked.  Lydia and I went back to kindergarten and talked to Cora about wolves,” Stiles explained.

“I didn’t go anywhere,” said Lydia. “I just felt dizzy for a second and then I needed to scream.”

"Actually you both stayed completely still for about 45 minutes while the circle sort of glowed. " Danny contradicted.

Stiles smiled. "Okay, I can work with this. The spell doesn't do what we thought but it does do something." He looked down at the nemeton stick that was still in his hand. He noticed that the section with a different texture was also blackened in color. It was as if the end of the stick had been burned. Stiles wet the stick in the bowl to see if washing the soot off would provide more details and again saw the room dissolve around him.

Stiles found himself approaching the local playground. His parents had taken him here frequently as a child to try to run off his abundant energy. Seeing the old play equipment was wonderfully nostalgic. It had been replaced with something safer and significantly less fun when he was in second grade.

Beside him walked a heartbreakingly familiar figure. His body, which had been walking, stopped so abruptly that he  stumbled.

"Mommy," he exclaimed and threw his arms around the woman he hadn't seen in almost ten years. Stiles felt tears prick his eyes as he smelled home. "I love you."

She laughed indulgently, "I love you too honey." She returned his hug with a tight squeeze and asked. "What brought this on?"

Stiles still wasn't exactly sure when he was, but he was quickly narrowing it down. His mom had started experiencing symptoms when he was in preschool, but she wasn't diagnosed until the summer after kindergarten. His parents hadn’t explained it to him until the symptoms became impossible to hide. His mother still looked reasonably healthy so he was unlikely to be older than six. "I never want anything bad to happen to you."

His mother crouched down so she could look him in the eyes. "Did you hear Daddy and I talking last night?"

Stiles hugged her again as his only answer.

"Sunshine, Mommy is a little bit sick.” She wrapped her arms around him. “I am going to do everything I can to stay with you.” She pulled away and looked over his shoulder.  “I see Cora and her Uncle Peter coming.  Can we talk about this more later today with your Daddy?”

Stiles nodded. He hastily shoved the Nemeton stick into his pocket and turned towards his approaching friend. He knew there was nothing that could be done for his mother’s condition and he certainly didn't want to discuss it. Cora waved enthusiastically and came running over.

“Stiles, we can play all afternoon,” she said when she got close enough for a human to hear her.

“Fun, I want to play on the swings,” Stiles was realizing it was harder than he expected to act like a child.

Peter greeted them with an open smile that Stiles had never seen on his face.  He addressed himself courteously to Mrs. Stilinski. “Hello, Claudia. My niece has been excited all day about coming to meet you guys. Lets leave the kiddos to play while we go sit comfortably on the bench.”  The grown-ups removed themselves to the side of the playground to chat and Stiles was left with Cora. What followed was an exhausting, half hour where Stiles attempted to play like a six year old.

In some ways, it was fun to be able to leave behind any concept of dignity and throw himself at the play equipment. But the nonsensical games of his childhood were hard to imitate. He had to focus on every word he said to attempt to keep to a child’s vocabulary. Cora didn’t seem to notice, but Peter began watching more and more closely as the playdate progressed. Stiles was relieved when Cora called a pause by loudly announcing that she had to pee.

“Alright, pup,” said Peter with suspiciously jovial tone. “I can take you to the bathroom.”

“Are you going to take me to the boy potty?” asked Cora suspiciously.

“Yes, I can’t go into the girl potty,” Peter replied.

Cora scowled, “I’m a big girl. I can go to the girl potty by myself.”

“No, Cora, it is safer for you to go with a grown-up.”

Cora stomped her foot. “I am a girl.  I don’t want to go in the boy potty.”

"Don't worry. I can take her," Claudia offered. Cora was more than willing to take this compromise and she ran off towards the women's restroom with Stiles mother following more slowly behind.

As soon as Cora left earshot, Peter turned his sharp eyes onto Stiles. "You are not Stiles Stilinski." he said in a falsely casual voice. All trace of the happy uncle was gone leaving behind a more familiar expression.

“Yes, I am,” responded Stiles.

“Truth,” Peter declared. “But there is something different about you.” He intently scanned Stiles from head to toe.  Having Peter’s full attention was always a bit nerve racking.

“No there isn’t.”

“Lie,” Peter says laconically.

“Werewolf hearing is the worst. You are the worst”

Peter raised one eyebrow at Stiles words. “Now that is an interesting thing for you to say. Something I am very certain Cora’s friend Stiles does not know”

Stiles took a step backwards, “I am Cora’s friend Stiles”

“Truth.”

“I promise I have no intention of hurting her.”

“Truth.” With each exchange Peter took a step forward moving closer and closer to Stiles.  While his posture was not overtly threatening, Stiles knew that could change in an instant. He had to get out of this conversation.

“I have to go potty,” he yelled and ran towards the bathroom. Stiles splashed some water on his face to help himself calm down and then reached into his pocket to retrieve the Nemeton stick with his wet hands. It seemed to be more blackened but before Stiles could fully examine it, he once again found himself in his room listening to Lydia scream.


	3. A stitch in time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles and Lydia gain an ally. Sort of.

_The next time the odd thoughts invaded his mind, Stiles suspected they left something behind. Or maybe they ushered in the last truly carefree afternoon of his childhood. The evening after his second episode, his parents sat him down to talk about his Mommy's illness. Somehow he had already known and accepted that she was dying. Stiles did everything he could to make her last years with the family happy ones. He didn't really notice that he saw less of Cora outside of school._

********************

When his eyes cleared, Stiles saw that his room was significantly altered. It was too tidy, the air smelled stale, and the items on the walls reflected his taste from several years ago. Danny was nowhere in sight. He didn't need Lydia's screams in the background to know that something had gone terribly wrong.

Stiles took Lydia's face gently in his hands and asked, "Who died this time?"

Lydia drew a deep, shuddering breath and wrapped her arms around her body for comfort. "You're dead, Stiles you're dead." She shook her head to try to deny the information filling it. "and Scott, Derek, Peter, Jackson, myself, Allison, Mr. Argent and Mrs. Argent. Everyone is dead."

The list was staggering. What happened? How could they have made things that much worse. "Do you know how they died?"

Lydia shook her head then took several deep breaths to calm herself. "No, but I am going to find out." She pulled out her phone and looked up the archives on the Beacon Hills Chronicle. As always research seemed to steady her.

Stiles shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. His phone had been on the desk before the first jump and now it was gone. To pass the time he examined the Nemeton stick. It was blackened until just before the second mark. He suspected the 'burning' was tracking how much time he had been in the past.

"Alright," Lydia began. "It is difficult to piece together exactly what happened but there is enough information to make some fairly good guesses." Stiles indicated for her to continue.

"You were reported to be killed by a wild animal the evening after Laura Hale died.  Alison and I were all killed by wild animals along with several others in town and at school. Peter, Derek,  and Scott were cut in half. Mr. and Mrs. Argent committed suicide and Jackson was shot."

"Peter killed me and Scott didn't learn to control his shift." Stiles guessed.

"That would make sense. The hunters killed the werewolves but not before they caused significant collateral damage, " Lydia paused and looked up a couple more things on her phone. "As far as I can tell, Kate and Gerard are still alive."

"So basically we have made everything much worse, " Stiles said guiltily. "I made Peter suspicious by crashing a play date between young me and Cora."

"Hmm, well the good news is that we know we can change the past. Now all we have to do is figure out what to change." Lydia was wearing her scarily competent face. "Do you have any control of when you go?"

"I don't know. I haven't had a chance to try to control it. " Stiles responded. He held up the stick. "I seem to time travel whenever the stick gets wet."

"Fine, try to make a short trip to a very specific time and I will work on a plan." Lydia turned her attention resolutely to her phone. Stiles focused his mind on one memory he had always wished he could change and dipped the stick in the bowl.

He found himself sitting next to his mother’s bedside in the hospital.  It was the last time they had a conversation where she recognised him. He remembered spending the precious minutes babbling about school and Scott. Stiles hadn't said anything important and accidentally left without saying 'I love you' . Years later, he confessed this great sin to his father and was assured it was not an issue. The sheriff promised Stiles that his mother knew she was loved.  It didn’t matter. It was the greatest regret of his early childhood and he intended to correct it.

Stiles knew he was being selfish to waste a time jump on something that would not affect the future in any real way, but he was doing it anyway.  He figured it was the perfect test case. Stiles took his mother’s hand and she gradually focused her eyes on his face.

“Sunshine, I have missed you,” Claudia said with a tired smile. Stiles knew she would live for barely a month after this conversation and would spend most of the time incoherent.

“Hi Mommy.” The childish words came easily to his lips. “I’ve missed you too. I love you.”

“I love you too darling,” his mother replied. “I wish I could see you grow up.”

“I know Mommy, but don’t worry,” Stiles began.  “I will tell you all about it.”  Stiles spun the tale of his life.  He unabashedly edited it to include only the happy parts. It was a story of hard work, good grades, and better friends. He stopped when he got to his sophomore year.

“What happens next?” his mother asked with a gentle smile. Stiles hesitated, but what was the harm in telling? He told her of werewolves, sparks, and teaching Scott control. Stiles glossed over the pain and death. He focused on Lydia’s brilliance, his father’s determination, and the beauty of Derek’s rare smiles. When he ran out of words, he kissed her forehead and poured a drop of water from the cup by her bed onto the Nemeton stick. He had to leave his seven year old self a chance to say goodbye.

His conciousness returned to his room and found an unexpected addition.

"The traveler returns, " Peter drawled.

"What are..." Stiles began and then realized he was allowing Peter to distract him from more important things. He  turned to Lydia who was amazingly silent. "Is everyone alright?"

"Not exactly, " answered Peter.

Stiles briefly turned to Peter with an irritated expression. "You don't exist.  Lydia," he began pointedly. "Is everyone alive?"

"They are laughing, " Lydia responded with her hands over her ears. "Isaac is dead and they are laughing."

"Yes, the situation is terribly dire which I imagine is why you cast this useful little spell in the first place , " Peter interrupted.

Stiles put an arm around Lydia and turned to face Peter. "We don't like you."

Peter looked completely unconcerned, "Fortunately you don't have to like me. You just have to let me help." Stiles snorted in disbelief.

"My life has not turned out precisely how I wished. I am aware that I am not blameless, but under the circumstances surely we can find some common ground."

"How are you even here?" Stiles questioned to avoid giving an answer.

"I was visiting my sister and her new baby in the hospital. Imagine my surprise when, walking back to my car, I happened to hear young Mr. Stilinski telling his dying mother about the future. Such a delicious mixture of truth and lies."

Stiles starred, "You heard all that and you didn't try to fix it."

Peter shrugged, "I tried. I failed. To be fair, your story didn't include many useful details. But it hardly matters, we are going to make a new plan and then you will go back and tell it to me."

Stiles shook his head. "I don't trust you."

Peter looked him straight in the eye. For once, his face was totally serious. "Trust that I want to save my family. I won't betray you until everyone I care about lives."


	4. Window of opportunity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get worse before they start to get better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in posting. Passover/Easter is super crazy busy for my multi-faith family.

_Stiles was always grateful that he was warned of his Mother's death. It didn't make it easier. Nothing could, but it made certain he had no regrets. His mother knew for an absolute fact that he loved her and would have a happy life. In the horrible days after she died, Stiles tried to focus on the bright future promised by the being that took over his mind._

********************

It took them several hours to come up with a very simple plan. Peter told the two humans about his time line with a minimal amount of exposition and sarcastic commentary. It was very similar to the one Stiles and Lydia had experienced.

"I had a notebook with dates and times of specific events carefully recorded, but it burnt in a fire," Peter finished passive aggressively.

"Oh my God, you are criticizing me for not including grisly details when you were eavesdropping on me talking to my dying mother, " Stiles protested.

"Absolutely it was rather inconsiderate of you," Peter says with a smirk. Stiles glared Peter and then turned to Lydia who had been taking copious notes on her phone.

Lydia pursed her lips and flipped a long curl over her shoulder. "We should try to make changes as early as possible so we have time to fix unintended consequences."  Lydia addressed her words to Stiles having apparently decided to ignore Peter as much as possible.

"Good idea," Stiles agreed.

"You should probably stick to after I overheard you with your Mom so I don't kill you," Peter suggested. Neither teen acknowledged his words but Stiles silently agreed it was the safer option.

Lydia looked through her notes. "The first thing to go wrong is Ennis's beta killing the two hunters. He likely did so under extenuating circumstances but we don't have enough information to fix that. I suggest we start with Paige."

"Excellent, if she doesn't get the Bite, she will likely live to a grand old age and break my nephew's heart the old fashioned way," Peter agreed. “Also, her death won’t distract my sister and I from Gerard.”

Stiles decided to ignore the fact that Peter managed to both dodge his culpability for Paige's death and sound gleeful about Derek's eventual heartbreak in one sentence. "Alright, that should be relatively straight forward. I will just go back in time and tell you to butt out of Derek's love life."

"I took the liberty of persuading Cora to invite you over the day after I saw you in the hospital. It would be a convenient time for you to pass me a message, " offered Peter ignoring the implied criticism.

"Any particular time of day?" asked Stiles with obviously false patience.

"Right after lunch, " suggested Peter cheerfully. "About one o'clock."

Stiles looked at Lydia for confirmation. When she nodded he dipped the Nemeton stick into the water.

Stiles found himself running around in the wooded backyard of the Hale house. He seemed to be involved in a game of hide and seek tag with Cora and what must be several of the younger Hale cousins. Unsurprisingly, he was losing badly.

In a corner of the yard, Derek and Laura were playing a very competitive game of basketball. They dribbled faster and shot more accurately than any human could manage. Stiles wondered how anyone could see the sight without suspecting the supernatural. Maybe they figured he was young enough he wouldn't notice. He definitely noticed and appreciated Derek's movements in a way his seven year old self didn't yet understand. It was amazing to see Derek carefree and laughing.

Stiles stopped running and panted for breath. "Time out," he shouted. "I'm thirsty."

"Get me some too," demanded Cora. "Please."  She added as an obvious afterthought.

"K," Stiles agreed and walked into the house. It was disconcerting to see the Hale house whole and obviously lived in. The back door led into the kitchen. It was bright, cheerful, and slightly messy. Several adults, including Peter, sat around a large wooden table chatting. Out the window, they had a clear view of the children playing.

"What can we do for you Mr. Stilinski," asked Peter.

“Cora and I are thirsty,” Stiles complained in a childish voice.

Peter stood up and took a pitcher of lemonade out of the refrigerator. “There are plastic cups in the cupboard to the left of the sink. Can you help me carry them out?”

“Yep,” Stiles responded. He had to use a chair to climb onto the counter to reach the cups. None of the adults commented.  He took out a large stack of cups and followed Peter to a picnic table on a shaded patio to the side of the house.

“Do you have anything to tell me?” asked Peter after looking around to make sure that no one is paying them any attention.

“When Derek gets a girlfriend, don’t interfere.” Stiles began. “Gerard is evil and will attack Deucalion when he tries to broker peace. There will be an alpha pack. It's really bad. "

Peter put on a thoughtful expression. "Thank you for the information," he said absently, obviously already starting to plot.

Stiles saw various Hales coming over to get lemonade so he quickly spit on the stick to return to the present.

Stiles was relieved to see that his room once again appeared occupied, but Lydia's screams informed him that the jump had not been a total success.

"You give terrible advice, " Peter announced. He is sitting precisely on Stiles desk chair with a leather covered notebook in his hands.

Stiles temporarily ignored him to comfort Lydia. She calmed more easily than she had the last couple of cycles.

"Who died?" Stiles asked marveling that this had become a common question in his life.

"Derek, Paige and scores of werewolves and Hunters, " answered Peter. Stiles glared wordlessly at Peter and turned to Lydia for confirmation.

"There is so much death," Lydia said shakily. "But I don't know who most of them are."

"On your advice, I ignored Derek and his little girlfriend and focused my attention on preventing Gerard's trickery. " As usual Peter, seemed intent on avoiding any suspicion of blame. "I convinced my sister and Ennis to come with me to spy on Gerard's meetings with Deucalion.  When the hunters attacked, we moved in to prevent loss of life. We were going to complain to the Argent matriarch of his duplicitous conduct but unfortunately Gerard acted first." Peter paused for dramatic effect until Lydia rolled her eyes and asked him to continue in a poisonously sweet voice.

"Gerard happened upon Derek and Paige. He killed them both and claimed that he killed my nephew because Derek killed Paige. None of the werewolves believed him but the Argent matriarch did. Talia and Deucalion joined Ennis in his quest for revenge. The Argents recruited several allied Hunter families and most of the packs from Western states sent betas to help Talia in the fight. As the war progressed, the hunters recruited more soldiers and several alphas offered pack membership to any omega wolves who volunteered to fight."

"We started supernatural world war one," Stiles exclaimed amazed.

"Most packs were just looking for an excuse, " Peter explained. "Few hunters were following the code and everyone had experienced losses."

"Who won?" asked Lydia as always focusing on the practical.

"No one," said Peter. "It was a bloody war of attrition and hatred. Almost everyone died."

"Yet you survived, " commented Lydia archly.

Peter folded his hands on his lap and smiled piously. "I had to be here to tell you the tale."

"Fine," Stiles said tartly. "Now let's figure out how to fix it." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am on tumblr at http://ankabit.tumblr.com/. Feel free to come on over and say hi :).


	5. Waits for no man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A stupid plan that mostly works

_During the month before his mother's death, Stiles split his time between the McCall's, the Hale's, and the hospital.  Between working long hours, visiting Claudia, and drinking every night, the Sheriff had little time to spare for his son. All the other grown-ups tried to help, but what Stiles needed most was a distraction._

_Hanging out with Scott was always fun, but his asthma kept him from running around outside. Stiles loved the warm chaos of the Hale house. It was always full to the seams of energetic cousins who wanted to play. Sometimes they could even persuade one of Cora's older siblings to join the games. Stiles thought Derek and Laura were the coolest._

_When they got tired, Stiles and Cora would go bug Uncle Peter.  He always had time to tell them a story. He even lent Stiles books about magic spells and fanciful creatures to read to his mother in the hospital.  Some of the words were too hard so he often just looked at the grossly awesome pictures._

*********************

Peter had meticulously recorded all the major events from the most recent timeline in an elegant leather covered notebook. Stiles wondered how he had such exact times for events that he had no logical part in, but decided it was better for his piece of mind not to ask. Lydia added all the data to the spreadsheet of previous cycles on her phone.

Fortunately, Lydia's phone seemed to retain saved information between cycles. It could also access the Internet from the time-line outside their circle. Lydia posited that this was because the phone remained inside their circle while the cell towers used to carry the data were outside it. Stiles wasn't going to question something that worked out in their favor.

When they finished the data transfer, Lydia looked over her notes. "We learned a great deal about background politics in this loop, but I don't think either change we made was completely correct."

“I think we intervened too early in the conflict between Deucalion  and Gerard,” Stiles speculated.

"Yes," Lydia agreed. "Next cycle let's have Peter intervene right before Deucalion is blinded."

"On the positive side we did prevent the Hale house fire," Stiles said. Even if the results of this cycle were not what they had hoped for, Stiles was encouraged by the magnitude of the change.

"In your timeline there was a fire?" Peter questioned. "Do tell?" He adopted a studious air with his pen poised over his notebook.

"Derek's psychopath, hunter girlfriend killed most of the Hale family by burning down your house." Stiles explained.

Peter gave a long blink but had no other visible reaction. "Well clearly my nephew is just a disaster with women," Peter drawled

Stiles snorted. "Actually that's more true than you know.  In our timeline, Paige died from receiving the Bite. After that, he dated the hunter I just told you about and a mass murdering dark druid."

"Perhaps we should try to fix that, " Peter suggested mildly.

"Great plan," Stiles agreed. "How?"

Lydia tilted her head to the side, "If Paige and Derek break up for a normal human reason he will be less traumatized about relationships in the future."

"Cool, maybe we can convince Derek she's cheating on him or something." Stiles suggested. He was uncertain how to accomplish this, but he suspected Peter and Lydia would have no shortage of ideas.

Lydia frowned. "That could work, but it would be better for her to dump him for a silly reason early in the relationship."

Peter smiled serenely, "I agree. Stiles you are going to have to come out."

"What?“ Stiles spluttered.

"I'm sorry are you straight?" asked Peter as if this could be the only possible objection.

“No, but..., " Stiles began.

"Excellent, " Peter interrupted paging through his notebook. "At a family dinner on February 15, 2004 at approximately 6:18 PM we discussed the same sex marriages happening in San Francisco."

"You kept a record of family dinner conversations?“ Stiles asked.

"Only the important ones. Now signal me that you are there by knocking your fork onto the floor and I will give you an opening." Peter was acting as if the whole thing was settled, but Stiles had no intention of just blindly following Peter's plan.

"Why, " he asked bluntly figuring his best chance of getting an answer was to ask a question that required a multi word answer.

"Because if Derek sees you being accepted for being…” Peter paused to give Stiles an opportunity to fill in a word.  After a second he continued, “Whatever it is you are, then he will feel more comfortable coming out. After that it will be trivial to use an unfortunately common misunderstanding of male bisexuality to break up the doomed lovers, " Peter explained.

"Let me get this straight. Your plan is to trick Derek into coming out as bi so you can manipulate Paige into dumping him for being gay. "

"Precisely," Peter agreed.

"That is a terrible plan." Stiles waved his arms so enthusiastically for emphasis that he almost smacked Lydia in the face. They had made their magic circle relatively small to save on ingredients.

Lydia gave Peter a very hard, thoughtful look. After a moment she shrugged and adopted a careless expression "It will probably work."

"You have got to be kidding me. " Stiles wasn't really sure why he was still arguing. It seemed like a stupid idea, but if Lydia and Peter had managed to agree he was probably missing something.

"There are a couple of side benefits as well. Werewolf culture can be slow to change. We are capable of long life, but our lives are dangerous. Our constant struggle to maintain our numbers makes us slower to certain accept modern ideals, " Peter looked terribly earnest which was never a good sign. "Just think of how helping to stamp out homophobia will have long term positive consequences."

Stiles rolled his eyes, "Whatever." He was unconvinced that this was the best plan but it seemed like it was probably quicker to execute it than to keep arguing. He dipped the Nemeton stick into the water and believed he would go back to the date Peter had described.

When his eyes cleared he found himself seated at a long table with his dad and the entire Hale pack. The adults were discussing how San Francisco was issuing marriage licenses to same - sex couples. Cora's Uncle Zack was irritated with the disregard for proper procedure and her father said he didn't care what 'those humans’ choose to do. No one was outright hostile but no one thought it was a good thing either.

Stiles was about to drop his fork, when his father gave him the perfect opening. "I think it's wonderful," he said.

"Yeah Dad, " piped up Stiles. "I could marry a man there someday.”

“I hope you can marry whoever you want when you are old enough,” the Sheriff said without missing a beat.  Stiles always knew his Dad was awesome.

“Are you sure you want to marry a man,” asked Cora’s Aunt Bella in a slightly pinched voice.

“Nope, it depends on who I fall in love with,” answered Stiles. Oddly, this may be one conversation that was easier to have as a fake nine year old.  No one could say anything too mean to him.

"Oh, " said Aunt Bella understandingly." Are girls still icky? "

Stiles pretended to be confused, "Girls have never been icky. Cora is awesome, but I don't want to marry her. "

"I don't want to marry you either, " Cora declared. She sounded slightly too happy about it.

Stiles looked around the table. Most of the adults looked amused at the exchange. The Sheriff looked concerned and Derek wore a grumpy expression that was typical of his older self but looked odd on his fifteen year old face.

Peter chuckled and raised an eyebrow, "I think I see who Stiles would like to marry. "

Apparently Stiles had been staring at Derek for too long. Stiles didn't have to fake a bush. " No you don't." He quickly looked down at his plate but the damage was already done .

"I'm flattered but you are a bit young and I already have a girlfriend, " Derek said.

"And you are the wrong gender, " added Aunt Bella pointedly.

Derek looked uncertain, but he glanced over at Stiles who put on his best hopeful face. "Gender isn't really a thing for me," admitted Derek.

"Me neither, " agreed Stiles with a big grin.

Stiles father patted him on the back "Thanks for telling us son."

Stiles tried to act as if his father's reaction was no big deal. Fortunately, Talia jumped in and moved the conversation to a less controversial topic. Stiles ate the rest of his dinner quietly. When the meal was finished, Peter asked Stiles and Cora to help him clear the dishes. Cora dragged her feet giving Stiles and Peter a few minutes alone in the kitchen. Stiles quickly related the plan and then dipped the Nemeton stick in a convenient cup of water.

Stiles returned to the present to find Peter holding a slightly charred notebook. "You could have warned me about the fire."

 


	6. To say nothing of the wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter only follows his own plans.

_Stiles felt like time slowed down during the last months of his mother's life. After she died, his life took on a frantic pace to make up for lost time and changed dramatically. Some days Stiles and his father clung together and tried to distract each other in their shared grief. Stiles attempted to cook and his father would read him to sleep from Claudia's favorite picture books. Other days, Stiles went to the Hale's or  McCall's. He tried to pretend he didn't know that he was being sent away so his father could drink._

_The odd presence helped him crystalize a thing about himself that he had always known was different, but had never worried about. By the end of the week, everyone knew that Stiles and Cora's brother both liked guys. All his schoolmates were cool with it, but for some inexplicable reason many of the teachers seemed to believe it was a reaction to his recent loss. He was given many words to describe this aspect of himself.  Some of them were even accurate and polite._

_Three weeks later the strange presence ushered in another great chance._

********************

Lydia only screamed for a couple seconds before shaking her shoulders and falling silent. Stiles was going to take this as a good sign.

Peter was paging through his slightly charred notebook with a mournful expression. "You could have warned me about the fire."

"It didn't happen last cycle and we weren't expecting it to happen again, " Stiles explained. He  turned to Lydia who had her phone out ready to start entering data into her spreadsheet.

"There was a low death toll this cycle. I would like to hear about it, " she said in her usual precise manner.

Peter looked momentarily surprised. "Four members of my family were killed in a fire and then another three died in a fight after the arsonist escaped prison," he said quietly in a deceptively mild voice

"That's the best survival rate we've had so far, " Stiles said encouragingly.  Peters face went completely blank.

Lydia cleared her throat, "It would be more useful if you started at the beginning and went in order."

Peter sniffed and made a great show of turning to the first page of his notebook. "It took four days to break up Derek and his girlfriend. He was scowly and mopey for about week and then his team won a basketball game." Peter rolled his eyes at the inconsistency of teen romance.  

"Talia, Zack, and I stopped Gerard just before he blinded Deucalion.  Zack wrote to the Argent Matriarch, as a human, to inform her of Gerard's conduct. It had little effect. Less than a year later, Gerard's daughter seduced Derek and set our house on fire. "

"But there were only four deaths," Lydia prompted.

"Isn't that enough," drawled Peter. "Zack was able to break the mountain ash barrier so most of the family could escape out the secret back door. But it was a full moon so Talia and three of the children that were too young to control their transformations were trapped in the basement ."

"Derek must have trusted Kate less this cycle," Stiles speculated.

"Possibly, he was quite distressed at the evidence of his deplorable taste in women, but he was very handy in getting her sent to prison. I suppose it wasn't really his fault it didn't stick." Peter appeared to have shaken himself out of his shock and was now speaking in his customary snarky manner.

"What happened next? " asked Lydia as soon as she finished typing in the information. She appeared slightly irritated with the unnecessary drama of the recitation.

"The Argent bitch and three men were sentenced to life in prison for four counts of murder, but Gerard helped her escape three years into her sentence. She was being treated at a hospital for a convenient bout of appendicitis. " Stiles agreed with Peter that it was unlikely she had actually been ill.

"Sheriff Stilinski called me to warn us of Kate's escape. Bella smelled her on our territory less than a week later. Laura took four of the adult betas to confront her." Peter paused for dramatic effect.

"Kate shot Derek in the heart with a wolfbane bullet before anyone had a chance to try a diplomatic approach. Derek's father earned a wolfbane bullet ripping out her throat in retaliation and Laura died in the ensuing fighting with Gerard and his rogue hunters. Gerard and his minions were killed, but only two of the wolves that went out to meet the hunters returned."

"Including you, " enquired Lydia.

"No, as Laura's second, I stayed back to guard the pregnant women and children." Peter remarked innocently. "Fortunately the Argent Matriarch believed Zack when he contacted her with the story so the violence ended there."

Stiles thought about it for a second. This was by far the best outcome they had managed to create. Lydia met his eyes and he could tell they were both considering calling it good enough.  They could leave the circle and merge themselves into a timeline where Beacon Hills was at peace with a stable Hale pack and no hunters. And no Derek. Stiles knew that it was unlikely they were ever get things perfect.  

Stiles pulled the Nemeton stick out of his pocket and saw that it was only a little over a third burnt.  They had time if they dared.

“Oh, you’re not done yet Mr. Stilinski, " said Peter interrupting Stiles thoughts. His eyes flickered briefly red for emphasis and Stiles was forcibly reminded that Peter had an unfortunate habit of twisting the truth to suit his purposes. Lydia must have had the same thought because she pulled up the website for the Beacon Hills Chronicle.

"You left a couple of things out." Lydia pointed out after a couple of minutes of research. "Mrs. McCall and three other people were killed during Kate's escape."

"They weren't on my list," Peter said carelessly.

"You have a list, "Stiles prompted flatly.

" Of course, it is important to be precise with these things." Peter turned to the second page of his notebook. "This cycle five of the people we need to save died. " He frowned.  "Or maybe four. Derek may be just too troublesome to save. "

"We are saving Derek," insisted Stiles.

"Oh very well, " agreed Peter. "I have just the plan."

"No," interrupted Lydia. "I have a plan."

Stiles turned to Lydia expectantly. "Excellent, let's hear it."

Lydia clicked her tongue. “I think we have the issues with Paige and Deucalion settled as well as possible.” Both Stiles and Peter nodded agreement." I don't think we can entirely prevent the Hale house fire but we should be able to make sure everyone gets out safely and the hunters are punished."

"The biggest problem with the fire was that we only had one escape route and one adult human to break the mountain ash barriers," Peter added.

"Precisely, Stiles we are going to let young you find out about werewolves and mountain ash, " Lydia explained.

Peter looked pensive," I'm not sure how much alternate Stiles remembers from when you take over his body."

"Then we'll have to make sure I have opportunities to practice as myself, " Stiles suggested.

"I can make that happen," offered Peter.

Lydia and Stiles looked at each, "Deaton" they said together.

"You don't trust me, " accused Peter.

Stiles was about to respond forcefully 'no', but then he realized just how much the man before him was not the Peter he knew. This Peter had never been burned or in a coma. He hadn't killed Laura or come back from the dead. He was not exactly a good man, but he wasn't evil either. This Peter was a crafty, manipulative little shit who only cared for a select number of people. He was a normal sort of morally ambiguous, not a murderous psychopath. Stiles realized that maybe they could save more than just the dead.

"Using Deaton adds another strong human ally, " argued Stiles." And he has more direct experience using non-wolfy powers. "

"Alright," agreed Peter reluctantly. "The pack members that have control of their transformations like to run around the preserve for a couple hours on full moon evenings. Call me and I will tell you where to 'catch' us."

Peter wrote down a phone number in big letters and then turned his notebook so Stiles could memorize them.

During this discussion Lydia was busy looking up something on her phone. "The first full moon after the last time Stiles went back was March 7th. Does this work for you?" she asked Peter.

He looks briefly through his notebook, "I have nothing recorded for that day. Around 9 PM would be best."

Stiles looked at Lydia for confirmation then dipped the stick in the water.

He found himself lying in his bed wearing his favorite batman pajamas. He still missed those pajamas. They are cuddly and warm and awesome looking. Stiles had worn them almost every night until they were so small that he ripped them trying to force them on.

Stiles got quietly out of bed and snuck downstairs. Passing his father's door he saw him asleep in his clothes with a half full bottle of liquor by his bed. Stiles usually disliked his father's drinking but in this case it would be useful.

He dialed Peter's number from the kitchen phone. Peter answered promptly and agreed to the plan. He directed Stiles to a clearing in the Preserve that was about 2 miles from Stiles house and easily accessible by a bike trail.

When Stiles arrived, the clearing was deserted except for a florescent envelope with his name on it. Stiles opened it to find a packet of familiar dark gray powder. He had a bad feeling. This was not part of the plan. He considered leaving, but decided to see what Peter had in store for him. He could always split on the stick to escape if needed.

About five minutes later, a wolfed out child burst into the clearing. She was young, familiar and completely out of control.

"Cora," he said soothingly. "Don't attack Stiles. I'm your friend." She paused momentarily then lunged towards him. Acting on well trained instinct, he pulled out a handful of ash, threw it into the air, and believed it was surrounding him in an impenetrable circle of protection. Cora was repelled by the barrier right as Laura, Derek, and their father came into view.

"Stiles," exclaimed Mr. Hale obviously startled.

"Help Cora first," Stiles suggested. "I'm not going anywhere."

Mr. Hale and Derek worked on helping Cora regain control while Laura excused herself to make a call. The recipient became obvious when a couple of minutes later Talia Hale strode calmly into the clearing. Her family visibly relaxed as soon as she appeared.

"I have suspected for a while that there is something special about you Mr. Stilinski, " the alpha began.

Stiles tried desperately to remember the book on werewolf culture he read over a year ago. He didn't really know what this timeline's Stiles relationship was with Alpha Hale but it couldn't hurt to be formal. "I mean only peace to your pack and your territory," he began.

Talia smiled, "I know Stiles. I have always wondered why you seemed like pack."

Peter sauntered in, "He will be our next emissary."

Talia raised a graceful eyebrow. "And I suppose you have already begun his training."

"If tricking me into a clearing with my wolfed out friend is training then absolutely," said Stiles sourly. He knew his words were not going to help him pass as a nine year old but frankly neither was a perfectly executed mountain ash circle. He was sunk before he even opened his mouth.

Talia chuckled softly, "What kind of creature are you?"

"I am an adult human spark currently inhabiting my childhood body, but no worries. You will have kid Stiles back as soon as I get this wet." Stiles pulled out the Nemeton stick and showed it to Talia. She looked at the magical object closely but did not comment.

"And you wish us to get him training to become an Emissary, " Talia confirmed.

Stiles shrugged, "That is Peter's idea. My only goal was to ensure my younger self would learn about werewolves and his spark."

"How about we give your younger self the choice when he returns to us," suggested Talia.

"That works," agreed Stiles.

"Is there anything else you want to tell us?" asked Peter.

Stiles turned to Peter with a glare, "No, if this cycle turns out poorly I will come back and fix it myself." He spit on the stick to return himself to his room.

As soon as his eyes cleared he rounded on Peter. "That was not the plan."

Peter shrugged unrepentantly, "It was a better plan. "

" Really, " argued Stiles. "Then why is Lydia screaming?" 


	7. The longest distance distance between two points

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bad things that are not entirely Peter's fault and Stiles decides to recruit an unlikely ally.

_It was all real. Every book Uncle Peter had lent him and every story he had told. The world was a magical place and Stiles had a spot in it. The pack grown-ups kept waiting for him to freak out and they were going to be waiting forever because this was awesome._

_Dr. Deaton met Stiles at the Hale house once a week for magic lessons. He got magic lessons. He was welcome at the Hale house anytime because he was pack and pack was family. Uncle Peter gave him total access to the library and helped him find books to answer any questions. His endless curiosity was met with enthusiasm instead of annoyance._

_The odd presence that had been visiting frequently stopped invading his mind. Stiles figured that it had probably accomplished its goal. He had his place and his calling. He never wanted to leave._

*******************

Stiles hugged Lydia and rubbed her back until she was calm and stopped screaming. "It was not a better plan," she said shakily.

"It may need a couple of tweeks, " Peter allowed.

Lydia sniffed, "This is the worst outcome so far."

"What could possibly top the supernatural war? Stiles asked incredulously.

"One that includes the human authorities as a third side," answered Peter. Stiles and Lydia stared accusingly at him until he continued.

"Stiles, you took to being an emissary-in-training immediately. You quickly learned to harness your spark and had a talent for helping the younger cousins learn control. Early on a full moon night, you and Laura were playing with the pups in the basement when Derek’s girlfriend set the house on fire,” Peter paused expecting this to be shocking news.

“Kate Argent is a hunter bitch,” said Lydia tiredly. “Moving on.”

Peter rolled his eyes at their lack of reaction.  “Zack managed to break the mountain ash barrier around the house and get all the teens and adults out of the house.  Talia was about to go back in for the pups when you destroyed the basement window and the ash barrier that surrounded it. You and Laura passed all the children through the window before allowing us to pull you out.” Stiles was glad to hear that their plan to get everyone out had worked. It at least gave them a starting point for future improvements.

"We could smell that the Hunter bitch and several of her flunkies were hiding behind the tree line. The plan was for the adults to distract the hunters by running around the perimeter of the house in a panic while you and Laura escaped with the children.  Derek gave you his cell so you could call your father as soon as you were clear. " Peters slightly smug look made it obvious who had come up with this plan and Stiles had to admit it was a good one.

" Unfortunately, Kate and the other hunters started trying to shoot everyone with wolfsbane bullets. She kept laughing and cat calling Derek. She said she loved the smell of burning wolf." Peter shook his head obviously disturbed by the memory. Stiles found it frighteningly easy to picture the woman laughing and shooting with a manic gleam in her eye.

"Fortunately we were far enough away that their aim was terrible, but a lucky shot hit Talia in the shoulder." Peter continued. "It was not a fatal wound and we were able to recover some of Kate’s unused ammo to cure the poison, but Derek lost control. He shifted and broke Kate's neck just as the Sheriff arrived. " Peter was obviously more irritated by the loss of control than he was sympathetic to Derek's trauma.

"Derek was arrested, but charges were quickly dismissed as self defense. The arson report and numerous bullet casings found at the scene made it clear to human authorities that he acted under highly extenuating circumstances. The hunters accepted no such excuses. The Argent Matriarch declared that Derek must die for the murder of her daughter." Stiles was a little surprised at this development. There had been a cycle in the past when the Matriarch believed reports of werewolf innocence. He would have expected crime scene reports to be accepted. Perhaps the difference was that in the earlier cycle Kate had killed humans while escaping prison.

"We  were given the option to turn him over for a 'merciful' death, but of course his mother refused. The hunters declared that it was open season on all Hales until Derek was 'brought to justice'. "

Stiles snorted at the notion of hunter justice. "Did they even discipline the other hunters that participated in the attack?"

Peter shrugged, "Your father arrested them but they were killed before they had a chance to stand trial. The hunters blamed werewolves but to my knowledge none of the Hale pack sought revenge. I suspect Gerard."

Lydia looked up from entering notes into her phone. "This is very interesting, but let's move on to the war."

Peter refused to be rushed and took several deep breaths. He acted as if they were to calm himself from telling the tragic tale but most likely they were to annoy Lydia. "As news spread, several allied packs sent betas to help us defend ourselves and our territory. The Agents recruited an army of hunters in response. The Sheriff did his best to keep order until a novice hunter mistook Stiles for a werewolf and killed him."

"The Sheriff declared he would not rest until the 'gang' that had killed his son was behind bars.  The next several months were filled with chaotic battles between hunters and wolves with random deputies alternately trying to stop the fighting and trying to arrest everyone.  Neither the wolves nor the hunters were very good at separating the normal humans from the enemy. By the time Derek was killed, the cause of the war was long forgotten and could not be stopped. " Lydia and Stiles took a couple moments to absorb Peter's tale.

"Thank you for telling us your story, " Stiles said. "Now get out. "

Peter looked offended," Surely you don't blame this whole thing on me. "

To be fair, Stiles didn't. It was unlikely that Peter’s changes had a significant impact on the war, but they proved once again that Peter was not entirely on their side. “Why did you change the plan?” he asked.

Peter raised an eyebrow. “You are a very powerful young man,” he began softly. “You are so determined to save those you care about that you found a way to hop through time, changing the past.  I am willing to do a great deal to harness that power for my family.”

“I was already willing to help your family,” Stiles pointed out.

"It is a matter of power," Peter explained. "I have always grabbed as much power as I can so I can control situations, but it was not enough. You kept coming back in time so I knew I needed to do more. As I could not make myself more powerful without sacrificing people in my list I decided to make myself a very powerful ally. "

"I am not your puppet," Stiles responded angrily

“Obviously not," responded Peter indulgently. "Really you should thank me. Alternate Stiles learned to control his spark early and had an almost instinctive use of protective magics. I think if Deaton and I had sufficient time to fully train you, we could have held out against the hunters indefinitely. Eventually attrition would have won the war.“

“So you’re fine with a supernatural war as long as the people on your list survive it?” questioned Stiles incredulously.

“Precisely,” said Peter looking pleased that Stiles understood him.

“We are going to prevent the war,” stated Stiles bluntly.  

“And I suppose you know exactly how to accomplish this?”

Stiles though about it for several minutes then borrowed Lydia's phone to check her notes and look up a phone number. “I think I have a fairly good idea.”

“Care to share?” Peter enquired.

“No”

Without Peter’s notes, Stiles had to jump blind.  He picked a late Tuesday afternoon about a week before the fire.  Unfortunately, when his eyes cleared he found himself in the Hale house library doing homework.  Cora sat across from him at the hardwood desk diligently copying all his answers from a math worksheet.  Derek sat across the room in a reclining chair reading The Great Gatsby.  Stiles assumed it was probably an assigned book for his English class.

His plan had been to just use the landline at his house to make a call, but all the phones in the Hale house were in high traffic areas.

“Hey Derek,” he began.  Cora’s older brother appeared grateful for the interruption. “Can I borrow your cell phone for a second?”  Derek shrugged and threw it across the room. Stiles attempted to catch it, but misjudged the length of his arms. Cora saved the phone from crashing in table and handed it over to Stiles with a smug expression.

Stiles said a quick thanks as he exited the room and walked out past the tree line at the front of the house. He dialed a number from memory and waited for the call to connect.

“Argent Arms, Chris Argent speaking,” said a familiar voice on the other end of the call.

“Hello, my name is Stiles Stilinski of Beacon Hills and I request witness according to the Code.” Stiles tries to make his voice sound as old as possible.  He must have been at least slightly successful because Mr. Argent took him seriously.

“Beacon Hills,” Chris repeated.  “There is trouble with the Hale pack? I thought they were stable.”

“They are being threatened by a very dangerous foe and I am worried about the outcome.  I request witness in case the Code needs to be upheld.” Stiles realized his words were slightly misleading, but he thought formality was his best option.  Chris was an honorable man who honestly believed in his code.  Stiles knew that he would not stand by and let his sister murder children in cold blood.

There was a lengthy pause and then the Hunter agreed, “I will come to serve the code.  Do you have a time frame?”

“Friday, March 25th an hour after moon rise at the Hale house,” Stiles answered.  

“Fine, " Chris said shortly. He did not sound happy. Stiles was uncertain if it was because he says being summoned or because of the prospect of something fearsome enough to unbalance a strong pack.

“I am not asking for your interference unless the code is broken," Stiles emphasized.

"Understood," Chris responded and ended the call.

Stiles started walking back towards the house, but stopped when he saw a figure lounging against a porch rail. Coming closer, he was relieved to see it was Derek.

“Who did you call?” Derek seemed more curious than suspicious.

“An ally I haven’t seen in a while,” answered Stiles.

Derek smiled. “Oh, you are future Stiles right now.”

“Yep,” answered Stiles.

“That's so cool.  I didn’t really get a chance to say ‘hi’ last time you were here.” Talking to young, carefree Derek was just weird.  He was smiling at Stiles and seemed eager to chat. He must really hate The Great Gatsby. "How old are you?"

“Seventeen," Stiles answered.

"Wow, that's really true. You're older than I am, " he said enthusiastically. Stiles realized that Peter had actually told the truth all those years ago. Young Derek was very like Scott. For another ten days, he would be a happy person who had never experienced anything more terrible than a bad breakup.

"Yes, and as your elder I am going to tell you to finish your homework, " he used his best no nonsense voice which obviously sounded ridiculous coming from a ten year old body.

Surprisingly Derek took him seriously," I guess I should try to get ahead in my school work so I have time to help the pack with whatever you are here to prepare for. " Stiles wished he could warn him of what was to come but there were too many variables. He had seen how small changes could have catastrophic consequences. He thought the current plan was the best bet to save everyone and have the rogue hunters contained. Stiles had to see it through even if it hurt to see what he was sacrificing.

"There is nothing you can do right now. Something bad is coming, but I called an ally as a witness so the pack isn't blamed for something that is not our fault." Peter would never be satisfied with this type of answer but Derek looked reassured. Stiles handed him back his phone and they walked back into the house chatting idly about how Derek's English teacher was obsessed with clock metaphors.  When they got back to the library Stiles excused himself to use the restroom and ran the Nemeton stick under the tap.

"Your solution to hunters killing us all was to call more hunters," Peter greeted him with angry incredulity.

"Yep,  did it work?"


	8. The fire in which we burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It would be good enough except Stiles is on Peter's list.

_For the first time, the presence in his mind was unwelcome. The past year had been full of magic, learning, and gradually lessening grief. The presence told him that this peaceful time was over. Stiles had always known he was given this power to protect his pack but he hadn't expected to be called to battle so soon._

_He reported the visit to Uncle Peter immediately. His mentor asked a ton of questions to get as much information as possible before they told Alpha Hale. Unfortunately, Stiles didn't remember who he called and he didn't know why. The number on Derek's phone was unfamiliar to everyone in the pack. Stiles only knew that something bad was coming._

********************

"Your solution to hunters killing us all was to call more hunters," Peter greeted him with angry incredulity.

"Yep,  did it work?" Stiles asked, but as he listened to Lydia scream he already knew the answer. She was calming down on her own so it was likely one of the better cycles.

"Almost," Peter said grudgingly. "You and I worked together to get all the adults out of the secret back door.  Then you broke spell on the basement window so Zack and Talia could get all the pups out. Laura and Derek led the children to safety and called the authorities while the adults circled the house wailing. You insisted on staying with the adults.” He took a small sip of water from a cup on Stiles computer desk. “I think we all expected older you to take over."

Stiles was surprised at the changes a single phone call had made, but having Derek away from Kate could only be a good thing. "That sounds pretty good. How did it go wrong?"

"You died," announced Lydia.

"I suppose that is one way to put it,"  agreed Peter. "When the Argent bitch and her Hunter goons started shooting at the pack you stepped forward and announced you were the ten year old human son of the Sheriff."

Stiles shouldn't have been surprised to hear of his childhood naiveté. "Deaton must have told you of the Hunters Code," Peter continued sourly. "Of course, if Kate followed the code we wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place. She laughed and declared your humanity irrelevant as you had obviously been contaminated by animals. Then she shot you in the chest."

"A second group of hunters, which were apparently led by her brother, broke from the trees and confronted Kate for breaking the code. She was completely unrepentant and one of her men tried to shoot her brother.  He had the foresight to wear a bulletproof vest," Peter said accusingly to Stiles as if his death was completely due to his own carelessness.

"A firefight broke out between the two groups of hunters right as the fire department, Sheriff, and several deputies showed up at the scene.  Kate and several of her flunkies were killed because they refused to surrender and had not thought to protect themselves against human weapons. I believe your father made the kill shot," Peter sounded pleased with this apparent justice.

"Was there a war with the hunters?" asked Lydia.

"No," answered Peter. "Chris Argent reported to his Matriarch that all the humans were killed by other humans. He moved his family to Beacon Hills as a witness to ensure the Code was upheld in Hale territory. He actually became a great friend of the Sheriff and tentative ally to Talia." Peter appeared disgusted with the idea of being friends with a Hunter regardless of whether they followed the code.

Lydia looked thoughtful, "And that was the end of the violence?"

"Mostly," Peter responded. "There were several minor incidences with various malevolent magical creatures and Gerard Argent showed up to attempt revenge, but the pack handled everything without any major losses."

Stiles took a deep  breath and carefully considered the situation. Everyone lived except him.  He had been willing to die to save everyone when he was the nogitsune. Was this really any different? It was harder to reconcile himself to his own death when the situation was less urgent. Alternate him died seven years ago. Everyone, except his father, had long finished their mourning. He looked over at Lydia. Her alternate self was probably only vaguely aware of who he had been.

Stiles pulled the Nemeton stick out of his pocket. There were still ten markings that were not charred, but he had no plan. Stiles could only go back if he had a strong probability of making things better. This was too important a time to be selfish.

Lydia looked back and forth between the stick and the notes on her phone for several minutes then turned purposefully towards Peter. "What time did Stiles come over on the night of the fire?"

Peter consulted his notebook "About five o'clock," he answered. "The Sheriff had the evening shift so they both came over for dinner and then Stiles stayed to spend the night while his father was at work."  

Lydia nodded, “And when did the fire break out?”

“Around 10 PM,” answered Peter.

Lydia clicked her tongue and turned to Stiles, "Does your father keep his bulletproof vest at home?"

"Yes, he changes into his full uniform at home. But I can't take his vest when I know he is going to respond to a firefight, " Stiles protested.

Lydia made a face. "I am sure they have spares at the station," she said dismissively. "Here is what you are going to do. Go back to about 4pm the day of the fire and stash the vest in your overnight bag along with an oversized pale colored sweatshirt. You can change into the vest as soon as your father leaves after dinner. Then sit tight and try to replicate the day in Peter’s notebook as closely as possible.  We should be able to achieve the same outcome without you dying.”

Peter looked pleased with this plan. “I know how to make a surprisingly good squib out of corn syrup, corn starch, food coloring, and a sandwich bag,” he offered.  Stiles did not want to think about why he had acquired that skill.

Stiles wasn’t sure.  He had seen several seemingly small changes have catastrophic consequences. He worried that he would be trading his life for his father’s or a member of the pack.

He was about to voice his concerns when Peter cleared his throat impatiently.  "Thank you Lydia for an excellent plan”

“But I..” began Stiles

“No need to bother your conscience Stiles,” interrupted Peter lifting up his glass. “Think of the afternoon of the fire, my dear, because you are on my list.” As he finished speaking he threw the water at Stiles and sent him back in time.

Stiles found himself eating a snack at his kitchen table. His dad was sitting next to him reading through a case file. It was a bit startling how much younger the Sheriff looked. The past seven years had not been kind to him. Perhaps if they fixed everything the next seven years would be better.

Stiles was still nervous about the plan but he was already here so he might as well do his best. He took his soda and tried to inconspicuously wander up to his father's bedroom. A cough behind him reminded Stiles that his father had a bit of a sixth sense of when he was up to no good.

"What you doing in here son?”

Stiles tried to think quickly, he wasn’t forbidden to enter his father’s room, but rarely did so without a good reason.  “I wanted to borrow a shirt to sleep in.” He looked down in an attempt to appear embarrassed.  Even with all his practice, he was a terrible liar, but he was saved by the fact that his father wasn’t be expecting it.

His father nodded and found him a worn Beacon Hills Police Department shirt. “Here you go son.”

“Thanks, I know its silly, but I wanted to sleep in something that smells like home.”

“Stiles, thats not silly at all.” His father gave him a hug. “I wish I didn’t have to work night shifts, but its part of the job.”

Stiles was very aware of the fact that if this went wrong these might be some of the last words he ever spoke to his father. “I love you Dad.”  He gave his father an extra squeeze and then pretended to trip as he left his father’s embrace. He spilled his soda all over the uniform his father had conveniently laid out on the bed.

“Stiles,” his father said in exasperation, his irritation warring with not wanting to ruin the bonding moment.

“Sorry Dad,” said Stiles. “I’ll try to clean this up. Do you have a spare uniform at work?” Stiles scooped the sticky items into his arms making sure to leave his father’s gun belt on the bed.

“Yeah, don’t worry son.” His father seemed resigned to the occasional disasters that came with having a clumsy child. “Make sure you are packed.  We are leaving for the Hales in 30 minutes.”  

Stiles dumped the washable parts of his father's uniform into the washing machine and stuffed the vest in the bottom of his overnight bag. Then he went to his closet and pulled up the corner of the carpet to expose the missing floor segment that he had always used to hide his secrets. Inside, he found several pictures of his mother, a book of protection spells, and a jar of mountain ash. He added the powder to his overnight bag and hastily added enough clothes to entirely hide the extra contents.

He read the book until his father called up the stairs that it was time to leave. He stayed quiet on the ride to the Hale house and through dinner.  He knew it would worry his father and make the Hales suspicious, but he needed the time to plan. He mentally reviewed everything he knew about the fire in every alternate universe.  Stiles didn’t know if he could reset and take a second shot if things went wrong and he didn’t plan to risk it.  Would he die if his body died in this timeline?

Before he left for work his father pulled Stiles aside, “Son, is everything okay?”

Stiles hugged his father tight, “I have a bad feeling about tonight Dad. Promise me you will get another vest as soon as you get to the station."

His father gave him a tight squeeze. ”I promise. Be good for the Hales. I love you.” He gently untangled himself from his clinging son and left.

As soon as the door closed behind the Sheriff, Stiles turned to find Peter watching him intently. “Future you told me you know how to make an excellent squib. ”

Peter gave a smile that lit his entire face. “It is rather amazing what you can find on the internet. Come to the kitchen so we can discuss why it will be needed.”

"I need to talk to Derek first.” Derek looked surprised but not worried. Stiles was not looking forward to this conversation.

”Oh, very well you boys can talk in the library, but keep the door open.” Everyone looked at Peter a bit oddly.

Stiles was in no mood to deal with Peter being himself. He turned to Talia, "Alpha Hale, could you join us?"

"Of course. Peter please help the children clear up from dinner," Derek's mom instructed and then led the way to the library. She closed the door behind them and sat herself informally in the reclining chair.

"What do you have to tell us Stiles?" She asked calmly.

”A Hunter named Kate Argent is violating the Hunter Code and targeting your pack," Stiles began. Derek looked concerned but  clearly didn't understand how this related to him.

"She went undercover as a substitute math teacher and abused her position to seduce a member of your family. ” Stiles could see the moment Derek got what was happening. His open expression clouded and he took a step towards his mother.

”Mom I have endangered the pack, ” he confessed with a look of shame that broke Stiles heart. Talia didn't hesitate to wrap her son in her arms.

”Oh son, don't worry we'll fix it," her eyes sought out Stiles as she rubbed her son's back. Unfortunately, Stiles had more bad news.

”Kate is going to set the house on fire tonight at about 10 o'clock. Her plan is to trap everyone inside using mountain ash and magical barriers on all the doors and windows.” Stiles continued.

"Alright, then we have plenty of time to evacuate, ” Talia said calmly.

Stiles shook his head, "We can't. I know this is going to sound insane but please listen. If we aren't very careful we are going to start a terrible war between hunters and werewolves. The best way to stop it is to let the house burn and expose the renegade hunters as being willing to murder human children."

Talia thought for a minute, “You have seen the outcome?"

"I have seen several outcomes. By far the best was when we snuck everyone out after the house was already burning and pretended the pups were still inside," Stiles answered.

"But something went wrong," Talia prompted.

"Kate shot me, but this time I have a bulletproof vest,” Stiles explained.

Talia spent the next thirty minutes grilling Stiles on every detail of what was to come. When she was satisfied, she thought for several minutes and then called the pack in to explain her plan.  Peter entered the library with the bullet proof vest from Stiles bag already rigged with squibs. He handed it to Stiles with a superior expression that Stiles had great difficulty ignoring.

The rest of the evening was a rush of carefully concealed activity.  Talia and Peter sorted the irreplaceable family items. They were divided between backpacks for the children to wear during their escape and several large black garbage bags that Laura placed next to the trashcans. Stiles tried to ward the bookshelves of remaining books against smoke and fire, but he was uncertain how effective it would be. Bella dressed the children, including Cora, in layers of clothing and helped them choose one small personal item each to add to their backpacks.

Derek wandered the house trying to help everyone looking so terribly guilty that Stiles had to steal a moment to give him a hug. Derek accepted the physical affection with the same ease he would accept it from any other other member of the pack. Stiles hoped that someday he would have time to take Derek aside and convince him that this was never his fault.  

Everyone worked with a grim efficiency. By 9:30 the entire pack was gathered in the library waiting for the first whiff of smoke.


	9. The end of the beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles saves everyone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very slight edits to previous chapters to fix a couple of the ages. Stiles is currently 17 and in his 10 year old body :)

_Stiles had nightmares about the night of the fire for years afterwards. They were made worse by the fact that he only half remembered it. The presence had been in control for hours leaving him with hazy memories of magic, smoke, and blood. He remembered his own chest stained red and the screams of the pack as the house burned._

********************

Laura smelled the first hint of smoke at just after ten o'clock. A couple of minutes later, the whole house was ablaze.

Talia stood up and addressed the family briefly. "Laura and Derek lead the children to the basement, Stiles will meet you from the outside to break the spell," she reviewed. "Everyone else with me."

The pack split up without a single goodbye or good luck.  Everything necessary had already been said in the previous half hour. Stiles noticed that Peter was clutching a leather notebook. The short walk through the house to the secret back door was smoky and uncomfortably hot. Stiles heard a whimper as someone was singed and a juvenile howl as one of the children lost control.

Stiles made quick work of a containment spell on the back window.  Peter boosted him out so he could break the mountain ash circle around the house.  He paused long enough to see that Zack and Talia had gotten the secret back door open before he ran to the back basement window. As he ran, he could hear the adult pack members start their panicked circling which was probably only half faked.

The spell over this window was harder to untangle.  He focused all his will on the task at hand to drown out the distressed cries of the children.  Finally, the spell was broken and he shattered the window.  It released a plume of smoke to reveal Laura, Derek, and all the pups huddling in the corner against the floor to avoid the smoke.  Laura threw a heavy wool blanket over the broken glass and started passing the children to Stiles.  Cora was first so she could hold her baby cousin then the rest came out in age order.  By the time, Laura escaped the entire house was completely engulfed

”We will make for the lake in the center of the preserve, ” Laura said as confirmation then led the younger members of her family away as quickly and quietly as possible.

Stiles had a call to make. He dialed 911 on Derek's cell phone as he heard Kate take her first shots. He ran towards the front of the house.

"911 please state the nature of the emergency," said voice on the other end of the line.

"The Hale house is on fire," he said in a rush. "And someone is shooting at us. They are trying to kill us. I don't understand why they are trying to kill us."

"Alright, help is on the way. Who am I speaking to," asked the calm voice.

"Stiles Stilinski," he answered. He rounded the corner to see Kate shooting gleefully at the werewolves.  He hoped the sound of gunfire was audible through the phone.

"Can you confirm the address?" The voice was starting to sound upset. He didn't recognize her, but that didn't mean she didn't know him. As he rattled off the address of the Hale house, he  wondered how alternate him had managed to make this call.  Adult Stiles had years of experience in this type of situation to draw on. His young self must have been even more scared.

"Help is on the way please stay on the line until it arrives," he was instructed.

"I want my Daddy," he begged into the phone loud enough that everyone in the clearing in front of the house should be able to hear him. "Please send Sheriff John Stilinski, I want my Daddy."

The voice through the phone murmured reassurances but Stiles turned his attention fully to Kate.

She laughed mercilessly. "So the Hales turned the Sheriff's son.  How old are you little boy, eight?"

"I'm ten and I'm human," he yelled back. He stood tall and braced himself for impact.

Kate snorted, "You run with wolves boy so really you are nothing more than an animal."

Stiles felt the shot before he heard it. The air was knocked from his lungs and he didn't have to fake collapsing to the ground. In the distance, he heard sirens. His part was done. Stiles lay on the ground listening to Chris Argent’s challenge and the beginning of the fight between the hunters.  Shortly after he heard the fight intensify as the fire department and deputies arrived.

Stiles roused himself when a paramedic knelt by his side. "I'm not dead,” he whispered to the vaguely familiar young woman.

"I'm glad to hear that," she said. "Can you tell me where it hurts?"

"My chest hurts and I think I inhaled some smoke," Stiles responded. "Can you tell my Dad, the Sheriff, that I'm not dead?

"Of course honey," she replied and then informed Stiles that he was getting a free ride to the hospital.

"Not yet," he argued. "I need to see what happens."  He struggled to sit up, but was pushed gently back down. "I'm not really shot. I'm wearing a vest." Stiles pulled up his sweatshirt to reveal the mess of Kevlar and fake blood. The paramedic hesitantly agreed to let him stay if he could move himself to safety behind the emergency vehicles. When they arrived, she gave him a warm blanket and insisted he breath through an oxygen mask. He stripped off the vest and stained sweatshirt, wrapping himself in the blanket.

Stiles took deep breaths through his mask and prayed to deities he didn't really believe in that he had done enough. About ten minutes later, he was joined by Chris Argent who had been shot in the shoulder.

"You are the one that called me." Chris began after giving Stiles a long look.

“Yes,” Stiles answered. Mr. Argent didn’t look suspicious yet, but he was hard to read at the best of times.

“You left a couple of things out,” Mr. Argent stated.

“I needed you to see for yourself,” Stiles answered carefully. If possible, he would prefer not to tell the Hunter about time travel.

“Perhaps, but I am not certain what I saw.” He seemed to be carefully gathering information before he passed judgment.

“Kate Argent seduced a sixteen year old boy to get enough information to murder his entire family.  When that didn’t work, she started shooting at everyone who escaped including human children.” Stiles felt odd excluding himself from the pack, but he supposed it wasn’t a lie.  Alternate Stiles was a part of this pack and he was a part of Scott’s pack in his own time.

“Are you a human child?” questioned Mr. Argent.

“Yes,” Stiles looked deliberately towards the pile of removed clothing then opened the blanket to reveal the bruising on his chest. A werewolf would be completely healed by now. “The only reason the Hale family is not dead is that they were warned of her plan and let their house burn so that you could stand witness.  The Hale pack knew they would not be believed if they brought the story to the Matriarch.  The hunters have been moving so far from the code that this is the only way they had any hope of justice.”

Chris looked thoughtful, “Tonight humans only died by human hands.”

Stiles nodded, “If any werewolf had harmed a human, they would all be judged guilty retroactively.”

“This is probably true, but it does not explain how you know so much," Chris said carefully.

“I am an emissary-in-training,” Stiles explained. Hopefully, Chris knew little enough about magic to believe he had the ability to see the future or something.

“I did not realized they started their training so young," Chris mused.

“Do you have children Mr. Argent?” Stiles asked.  He obviously knew the answer but thought it would come off as creepy to just start talking about Allison.

“I have a daugher about your age," Chris admitted.

“Have you started training her?”

“Yes, but she doesn’t know what she is training for,” Stiles could easily imagine young Allison joyfully learning archery in complete ignorance of its purpose.

“I think I like our way better. I am going into this with my eyes open.  I know the dangers and monsters that exist in this world," Allison must be a very articulate child because Mr. Argent looks thoughtful instead of suspicious at the end of Stiles speech.

Mr. Argent stood up. "You have given me a lot to think about Mr. Stilinski. I am going in search of some pain killers."

He was gone for no more than a minute when the Sheriff came and engulfed his son in a tight hug. "Daddy, thanks for coming. I was so scared," Stiles babbled.

His father pulled away and looked him straight in the eye, "I will always come for you son.  I am so glad you are alright." He shuddered at the memory of seeing his son crumpled on the ground.

"Have you arrested all the bad guys?" Stiles asked. He was grateful to see his father unharmed, but making sure all the rogue hunters were brought to justice was more important.

"We're working on it," the Sheriff said with a smile. Peter approached them looking tired and covered in soot.

"I can stay with him if you need to get back to your job," Peter offered. The Sheriff thanked Peter and reluctantly let go of his son.

When he was out of earshot, Stiles asked, "Is everyone alright?"

Peter smiled grimly, "There are several injuries, but I managed to liberate an unspent magazine from Kate's body so everyone will recover.

"I believe Mr. Argent will report events to his Matriarch," Stiles said.

Peter snorted doubtfully, "Hunters."

"In my time, he is an ally and honorable man who loses everything he loves." Stiles didn’t really feel like wasting time on an unwinnable argument so he changed the subject. Hopefully, time will prove his point. "Give me your notebook and a pen," he demanded.

Peter didn't pretend ignorance. He simply handed the requested items over. Stiles quickly turned the notebook so Peter couldn’t see and wrote two notes.  He left the first in the notebook for Peter and ripped the second one out and placed it carefully in his pocket. He looked around for a second to make sure there is nothing left undone then spits on the stick.

His room was completely silent. Stiles and Lydia looked around in amazement. The wall behind his desk held a collage of photographs. Stiles saw himself, his father, and almost every member of the Hale pack. There was an awkwardly formal picture of Scott and Allison posing with him and Danny at a school dance. Next to it is a picture of Cora and Isaac ignoring the camera to stare at each other dreamily. It is partially overlapped by a picture of Stiles and Erica posing in Batman and Catwoman costumes. In the bottom corner, was a small picture of his mother and one of Derek laughing in graduation robes with Stiles wearing his commencement cap.

"Everyone lived," said Lydia. Stiles felt a moment of sadness when he realized there wasn't a single picture of Lydia on the board.

"We won," agreed Stiles. There was still over an hour left on the Nemeton stick, but he didn't know of anything that needed changing. All he had to do was end the spell. He didn't know exactly what would happen, but he suspected Lydia and him would cease to exist as their consciousnesses merged into their alternate selves. Stiles wondered how much if anything he would remember of his former life.

Stiles thought that these are the moments when you are supposed to stop and reflect or be hesitant to give up your own past for the partially unknown. Forget that. Some part of him had a chance to live in a world where there had never been a kanima, a nogitsune or an alpha pack. The big bad was defeated and everybody lived. Stiles broke the circle and stepped confidently out into his new life.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, I know this chapter ends in an unsettling place but there is still one more chapter to go. Stiles isn't just gone.
> 
> I can't believe this story is almost over. I have had a blast writing it and I hope you have enjoyed reading. Thank you to everyone for reading, commenting and kudos. Thank you to Kamara_Black for beta reading.
> 
> I am busy outlining a couple of new stories. I am trying to decide between writing a fluffy 5+1 relationship fic or more serious story about the humans of the pack featuring technopagan!Danny.


	10. Being of two minds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles was a man with two pasts so everyone he loved could have a future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is optional. If you like how the last chapter ended or generally prefer more open endings, you may want to skip it. If you want to hear how everything turned out for alternate Stiles, please read on :-).

Stiles didn’t understand his childhood until he was eighteen years old.  When he was younger, sometimes his brain would switch into a different mode.  His thoughts became older and scarier. They seemed to reference memories and experiences he couldn’t touch. When his thoughts returned to normal, he found he didn’t remember any explanation for his odd actions.  

After the Hale house fire, it changed. The presence never completely took over again. Instead, Stiles would have inexplicable moments of insight. The first was three weeks after the fire when a new girl transferred into his class from San Francisco.

"Scott," he whispered while poking his best bro with his pencil. "Ask her if she needs to borrow a pen." Stiles spent the next three years hearing in exhaustive detail how Scott did not have a crush on Allison even though she was the coolest and prettiest girl Scott had ever seen.

On the first day of middle school, he thoroughly confused Erica by screaming "Catwoman" and grabbing her into a giant hug.  Cora, who witnessed the scene, assumed that Erica was some kind of were-feline. Cora spent the rest of the day trying to get to know her. By the time she realized her mistake, Cora didn't care. Together Cora and Erica were a fearless force for questionable fashion and awesome. Talia offered to cure Erica's seizures on her sixteenth birthday and she gratefully accepted.

The first time Stiles saw Isaac limping, he knew he had to call his father. Later that day, Stiles saw Peter writing in his notebook and tried to sneak a peek. Peter snatched it out of the way laughing about spoilers. Uncle Peter teased him for his tendency to adopt strays. Stiles teased Uncle Peter for being a heartless bastard.

The morning after fire he had found a note in his pocket warning him that Uncle Peter could never be trusted completely. The note puzzled him at first, but as he grew older he realized the note writer had a limited understanding. Peter cared about himself and his pack. Within those confines, he tried to be trustworthy but occasionally his ambition and love of scheming got the better of him.  If something didn't relate to one of his two priorities, Peter would do whatever he found most amusing.

Unfortunately, one of the things that Peter found very entertaining was meddling in the romantic lives of the pack. It didn't take much thought to guess who gave Cora the idea to ambush him two weeks before the eighth grade graduation dance.

"So who are you asking to the dance?" Cora demanded after stealing his partially finished English essay.

Stiles was slightly irritated, the person he would like to ask wasn't an option. "I'm going stag."

"That's no fun. You have to ask someone so everyone in our group will have dates."

"Do you have a date?" Stiles asked. He knew Isaac had a huge crush on Cora but was surprised he had found the courage to ask her out. Living with the McCalls after the arrest of his father was a huge improvement in his life.  However, Isaac sometimes struggled with low self-esteem.

"Nope, but I will by tomorrow afternoon. Erica and I made a pact to screw convention and ask Isaac and Boyd ourselves.”

"Awesome, I'm sure they'll say yes." Stiles grinned. The ladies of the Hale pack had absolutely zero interest in traditional gender roles. "Hey, could you do me a favor and convince Allison to ask Scott? He is driving me crazy by constantly trying to debate if she likes him.”

“She likes him,” said Cora bluntly.

“Everyone knows that except Scott," agreed Stiles.

"Fine I will persuade Allison to ask Scott, as soon as you secure yourself a date."

“But I’m not interested in anyone,” protested Stiles.

“You’re a liar,” declared Cora.  She looked incredibly smug.

“No I’m not.” Cora was new enough to the skill of reading heartbeats that he might be able to throw her off.

“Yes you are,” said Peter from the doorway.

“Why are you even listening?” protested Stiles. “Creeper.”

Peter shrugged innocently, “I just happened to be passing by but now I’m fascinated. So tell us who you think is dreamy.”

Stiles rolled his eyes.  He was almost certain that Peter already knew and completely certain that he didn’t want to confirm it. “None of your business.”

“Hmm, I suppose not, but regardless I am moved to offer you some unsolicited advice” Stiles folded his hands in his lap and looked up at Peter in exaggerated interest.

“Just because you have to be patient doesn’t mean you shouldn’t live. Make sure to have the experiences that will teach you how to deal with the thing once you get it,” continued Peter.

“What does that mean?” asked Cora puzzled.

“It means Stiles should ask out the handsome boy that everyone likes,” explained Peter.

"Danny,” Cora was immediately distracted by her new plan. “That's it. You should ask Danny. You are the only other out guy in the school so if you don't ask him he may not go at all."  She conveniently ignored the fact that Danny was just as capable of going stag as Stiles.

"Fine, if Allison asks Scott, I will ask Danny to go with me as a friend," Stiles said.  He was gratified that Peter saw him as in for a bit of a wait instead of the victim of hopelessly unrequited affections.

Stiles was shocked when Danny agreed to be his ‘datish friend thing’ to the dance. They dated casually for the next two years.  Stiles and Danny became close friends but it never really deepened into more. They broke up on the night of Derek's college graduation party.  Stiles was almost giddy to have Derek back in Beacon Hills for good and expressed his happiness by trying to annoy Derek as much as possible.  Half way through the party, Danny asked if Stiles was in love with Derek and Stiles was unable to deny it. They were awkward for about a week and then realized their friendship worked way better without the kissing. They had never really gotten any further.

Because Stiles was in love with Derek.  He had loved Derek since before he even really understood what those butterfly feelings meant. It felt like a fundamental part of his character. Stiles loved deeply and mostly without angst. He had to wait because he was too young and Derek needed time to heal. But life was busy and good so through his early teens he mostly confined his pining to occasional late nights when he couldn't sleep. That changed when Derek come back from college.

Derek's degree was in architecture. The two elder Hale siblings had become fascinated with houses while the pack was rebuilding after the fire. They realized there was a lack of quality firms to handle the unique construction needs of the supernatural community and decided to fill the hole. While Derek was in earning his degree, Laura worked a variety of construction jobs and got her general contractors license. They offered Stiles a part time job casting wards on finished projects.

Stiles and Derek got closer as they worked together.  Stiles wove wards seamlessly into Derek’s designs and Derek learned to plan buildings that could easily accommodate spellwork.  When their work was done, Stiles would study or chatter until Derek threatened to move Stiles small desk into the hallway. Stiles knew he secretly liked it. Every once in a while Derek would look at him for too long and Stiles would look down pretending he wasn’t blushing. Neither of them said anything.  It was too early, but Stiles was beginning to hope.

Halfway through his junior year of high school, Stiles started having terrible nightmares. He dreamed of being taken over by a dark spirit, Erica dying, and a crazy Uncle Peter with glowing red eyes.  He wrote down his dreams and over the next couple of months managed to piece together an alternate history of his life. It was like the other presence that had hovered at the edges of his mind since the fire had started weaving itself into his consciousness. They were alike in everything except their experiences.

Stiles asked Derek for advice. He figured that if anyone would understand how to make a single person out of two minds it would be a werewolf. They worked together to find a focus that united and stabilized the two parts of himself.

By the beginning of his senior year, Stiles felt confident in his new singular self. It was a bit strange to have two conflicting sets of memories, but his brain had always been a weird place. He was grateful to the part of himself that sacrificed his independence to save their pack. It definitely helped that when the two halves of himself had been separate, they had been in complete agreement on what they wanted the future to hold.

"I think I'm ready to start dating again," Derek announced one day as Stiles finished specifying the wards for the new dental clinic of an emissary in Connecticut.

"Oh," Stiles tried to keep his voice neutral, but his heart started beating faster. Talia had sent Derek to therapy after the fire. Derek had mostly recovered but he still had trouble trusting people outside the pack. Especially if they seemed interested in him romantically.

"There is a man I have known for a long time and in the past year I have started feeling differently about him," Derek continued.

Stiles looked up at Derek and grinned "Really, I would love to hear more."

"He is brave, talented, and slightly annoying."

"Hey," interrupted Stiles. "You are supposed to only say nice things when you're asking someone out."

Derek raised an eyebrow, "Are you saying no?"

"Absolutely not, I will accept your apologies in the form of kisses." Derek looked uncertain so Stiles launched himself across the room and wrapped Derek in a giant hug.

Derek accepted the hug passively for several seconds before he gathered his courage and ducked his head to kiss Stiles. The younger man let Derek set the pace but left him in no doubt of his enthusiasm. Things were heating up nicely when Uncle Peter walked into the room.

"How inconsiderate," Peter exclaimed. "I had a plan to get you two together all set for next week and you have wasted my efforts."

"Get out," growled Derek.

"You should be grateful I..."

"Do you remember that new ward I was telling you about that repels specific people," Stiles interrupted Peter. "I'm going to go cast it on Derek's bedroom." He turned to his boyfriend. "You should come watch.  Clothing optional."

Peter snorted out an additional "Rude." But Stiles and Derek completely ignored him as they ran to Derek's room.

Stiles finished casting the ward to find Derek laying on his bed in nothing but his boxer shorts.

"You are so hot," Stiles babbled. "Did I ever tell you that alternate me once made you change shirts a bunch of times to bribe Danny?"

"Do you really want to talk about your ex right now?" Derek asked.

Stiles stripped entirely and grinned as Derek's expression changed from mild irritation to lust. "Nope, let's not talk about anyone except you and me for the rest of the day."

"How about we not talk at all," suggested Derek as he pulled Stiles down to lay beside him.  Neither of them really knew what they were doing, but they still found ways to make each other moan and gasp. Any imperfections just meant they had a great excuse to practice. Stiles loved to practice because the orgasms were spectacular and afterwards Derek would murmur his love while peppering Stiles moles with kisses.

After his high school graduation, Peter pulled Stiles aside and gave him a battered leather notebook. Reading Peter’s notes slotted the last pieces of his story into his mind. Stiles was a man with two pasts so everyone he loved could have a future.

Text on the image:

Dear Peter,

I believe that this will be my last trip back in time. Here are some tips to make sure the future stays fixed. I expect most of these things to take care of themselves, but if Cora gets through tenth grade without meeting Isaac Lahey and Erica Reyes feel free to meddle.

Stiles

 

  1. Do NOT try to turn Lydia Martin or Jackson Whittemore into werewolves

  2. Erica Reyes is an awesome werewolf

  3. Isaac Lahey's father is an abusive asshole. Make sure he gets arrested. Isaac will survive the Bite if necessary.

  4. Gerard Argent is evil. Very very evil. He will probably try to cause trouble at some point.

  5. Chris Argent is trustworthy, but his wife is nuts and his daughter can be misled.

  6. Derek has terrible taste in women.

  7. Make sure my dad eats healthy.



 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi All,
> 
> Its finished. I can't believe it is finished. Thank you to Kamara_Black for beta reading and my husband for making me art. Yep, I made my husband read my fanfiction :-). I have loved writing this story. Your comments and kudos have been wonderful and encouraging. 
> 
> I am busy planning my next story.
> 
> Thank you for reading!  
> Anika

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Secrets](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1900386) by [tolieawake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tolieawake/pseuds/tolieawake)




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